catholic tastes.

WHAT WOULD JESUS DRINK? The answer to this question, of course, is: wine. Tabletalk magazine (February 2000) recently investigated the drinking habits of the one who asked to be remembered by drinking: "He drank the best. In his miracle at the wedding of Cana, Jesus created the best wine and so honored wine as a special drink for our enjoyment.... The conclusion is obvious: Alcoholic beverages are not sinful if drunk to the glory of God. He drank at the Last Supper, [which] was a very wet affair--four rounds of wine were consumed. He drank wine on the cross.... The `new' wine which he promised he would drink with his disciples was not ... an experience in a future heavenly kingdom. He said he would drink `with you,' and this is indeed what he did after his Resurrection." (Quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends, April 2000)

"`THE BOTTOM LINE.' Businessmen love to use that phrase. They say, `I heard your talk, Father, but the bottom line is....' Bottom line means one thing: buying and selling. What a strange and unsatisfying foundation! The Christian vision is that the world is a temple, and buying and selling in the temple is the one thing that drove Jesus to anger and violence. It destroys inherent value and replaces it with an utterly false seeing: market value.... It destroys the soul." (Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs, Crossroad, 1999)

ZEND-OFF Thomas Moore recounts a story about D. T. Suzuki, an early exponent of Zen in the West: "He was sitting at a table with a number of distinguished scholars. A man at his side kept asking him questions. Suzuki ate his dinner patiently and said nothing. The man, who obviously had never read a Zen story, then asked: `How would you sum up Zen for a Westerner like me?' With unusual vigor in his voice, Suzuki looked him in the eye and said: `Eat!'"(Care of the Soul, HarperCollins, 1992)

WITH AUTHORITY "Even Jesus only `taught with authority'; he didn't set himself up as an organizational expert, a conflict manager, a psychological counselor, a sexologist.... The people before us in the pews ... are thirsting for living water, hungering for solid food.... They will not be satisfied with stained-glass sociology and moral tidbits."

--Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall, decrying the lack of leadership and true "teaching authority" among clergy today (quoted in Context, May 15, 2000)

"I DON'T WANT THE CHURCH TO BE A DEMOCRACY. I want it to be something better than a democracy. I want it to be a community."

--Brazilian bishop Dom Pedro Casaldaliga, C.M.F. (quoted in National Catholic Reporter, May 5, 2000)

THE LORD IS MY CADDY In her new book, A Golfer's Day with the Master (Doubleday, 2000), Dominican Sister Dorothy K. Ederer offers "spiritual wisdom from the fairway." She invokes God's help for "finding the missing links in life" and adapts for golfers the Beatitudes ("Happy the golfer who repairs his divot; those who follow will bless him"), the Prayer of Saint Francis ("Lord, make us honest golfers on the course"), and several psalms. Here is Psalm 139:

   Divine Master, You have watched me, and You know me. You know when I duff
   and when I divot. You understand my plays from afar. My swings and my putts
   You scrutinize, with all my strokes You are familiar. As soon as the ball
   takes flight, behold, Wise Master, You know its destination. Behind me and
   before me, You help me swing, and rest Your hand upon mine. Such comfort is
   too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to comprehend. Who knows the course
   of the ball in flight? If it goes into the waters, You are there. If it
   sinks into the sand trap, You are there. If I wander into barren wasteland,
   even there Your hand shall guide me, to help me score my best. Probe me, O
   God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts. See if my way is
   crooked, and lead me, if not to a hole in one, at least to a praiseworthy
   finish.

And in her closing prayer, Ederer prays: "When our last putt has dropped into the cup, ... though our trophies be few [and] our handicap still too high, ... may we be able to turn in to You, our tournament director at the great clubhouse, an honest scorecard. Amen."